The present invention is an automated and extensible system for the analysis and retrieval of images based on region-of-interest (ROI) analysis of one or more true objects depicted by an image. The system uses a ROI database that is a relational or analytical database containing searchable vectors that represent the images stored in a repository. Entries in the ROI database are created by an image locator and ROI classifier that work in tandem to locate images within the repository and extract the relevant information. The ROI classifier analyzes objects in an image to arrive at the actual features of the true object, instead of merely describing the features of the image of that object. Graphical searches are performed by the collaborative workings of an image retrieval module, and an image search requestor that translates user or agent search requests into a language understood by an ROI query module.